Blackpoll Warbler – Haroldswick, Unst, Shetland, 9th October 2025
What do you mean don't go near the sea? I've just flown over hundreds of miles of the stuff!!!!!
Having successfully stayed in Northdale on Unst with Mark Wilkinson and Andy Stirrat for a week during October 2024, Chris Pendlebury and I quickly decided that we should arrange to book the place again for the week 4th – 11th October in 2025.
So, soon after we returned from Unst Chris had re-booked, and we offered Mark and Andy the first refusal for the option for joining us again.Mark and Andy suggested they would let us know of their plans early in the New Year, which they did. They declined to join us again, as they had other plans, and so it was just Chris and I unless we could find someone else to join us.
Meanwhile, the bird that had saved my autumn 2024 seemed like a long time ago, as I endured a series of rather epic dips. Immediately after returning from Costa Rica where I saw lots of them, I dipped the Scarlet Tanager at Shelf, near Halifax on the 12th November 2024. This error was then compounded when, a few weeks later, David Steel and I decided it would be a good idea to twitch another bird I had seen lots of in Costa Rica, but disastrously, we dipped the Yellow Warbler at New Hythe, Kent on the 3rd January 2025, as the previous day proved to be the last of its long stay. And then, to round things off, I ridiculously opted not to go for the Solitary Sandpiper at the Butt of Lewis on the 12th May 2025, this despite being at Cabot Highlands (my long-term golf course development project) just outside Inverness and having time to get to Ullapool and get on the CalMac ferry as a foot passenger. Alright, I would have had to scrounge a lift to the Butt of Lewis but that would have been feasible, Al McNee, for example, successfully twitched it from Inverness. Knowing the Butt of Lewis car-park area where it was, I just couldn’t imagine it sticking around. If only it had been correctly identified the day before (he said contentiously).
Ironically, one of the people to connect with the Solitary Sandpiper was James Grundy, who had asked me for advice on visiting the Hebrides in spring with his non-birding father. And, getting back to the subject in hand, James was one of the many people I had sounded out about joining Chris and I in Northdale in October 2025.
Come October 2025, despite our best efforts to find others to accompany us, inevitably, it was just Chris and I. And, as we intended to be there on the 4th October, it was just over a year since my last tick, the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler at Bempton Cliffs, which I had successfully twitched on the 2nd October 2024.
I’m not complaining. I’d enjoyed an Isle of May week in late spring, and then I’d forgone ‘my’ week there in late-August as I’d had a better offer; instead, I’d had another ‘once in a lifetime’ trip with my very best mate Gary Hitchen (and his partner Janet Smyth) which involved visiting Ecuador and the Galapagos. Ken Shaw had effectively given me a good talking to and offered to stand in for me as group leader whilst I went to Ecuador and the Galapagos instead of the Isle of May.
Then in mid-September Andy Williams, Ken and Amanda Shaw and I had a week on Lewis for the third year in succession, but again it was a bit of a struggle.
So it was that, in early October, Chris and I prepared for another trip to Unst with mixed expectations.
Even before we’d arrived, it proved to be something of a challenging saga.
We were booked on the 19:00 overnight sailing to Lerwick from Aberdeen on Friday the 3rd October, as our Northdale booking involved a week from Saturday to Saturday. However, Storm Amy intervened, and, due to the ever-worsening forecasts, it became apparent that our sailing just would not be happening.
So it was, that (despite being as busy as ever at work) on the Thursday morning Chris had the inspired idea of us going later that day, and just getting somewhere, anywhere, to stay on the Friday night (and him finding some way of still ‘working’ on the Friday). A huge dialogue of WhatsApp messages ensued, as we discussed our options.
Ultimately, we both hurriedly changed our train bookings, and packed, and, firstly and crucially, but with some difficulty, changed our respective ferry bookings. I had ‘phoned Northlink and established it would be possible to change my booking as there was still availability, but I was advised to do so quickly, as everyone else was doing the same.
Having conferred with Chris we decided we should go for it, except now neither of us could get through on the same number I had just successfully used.
Ever adaptable, Chris WhatsApp messaged me to say that he had successfully changed his booking to the Thursday from the Friday online (even again arranging for a cabin for us), and so I did the same.
In the middle of getting ready to go to Shetland a day early someone from Northlink ‘phoned me to advise that the Friday sailing was going to be cancelled, and I advised him that I had already changed my booking accordingly…. .
Once packed I yomped from home to Dalmeny Railway Station with my (Tessa’s) rucksack. I caught an earlier train from there to Inverkeithing than the one I was scheduled to get and felt good about being ahead of the game.
However, my train from Inverkeithing to Aberdeen was somewhat delayed, and once I was on it, I began to be concerned about whether I would arrive at the ferry terminal before boarding for foot passengers was closed. I WhatsApp messaged Chris, saying, “On a train. Maybe get me there around 17:30 but was significantly delayed. What time do foot passengers need to check in by, can you remember?”
To which Chris responded, “Fuck”. Only now did it emerge that the Thursday sailing departed at 17:00 and not 19:00 like the Friday one. There was no way we were going to make it, and we both quickly decided to abandon our mission and return home. I alighted from my train at Kirkcaldy, and journey back to Inverkeithing and Dalmeny, and then yomped back home from Dalmeny Railway Station. I was shattered and dejected. Best laid plans.
Anyway, another dialogue of WhatsApp messages ensued, before we resolved to try to get on the next available sailing, which was a 17:00 on Sunday the 5th October. Once again, we changed our ferry and train bookings as necessary, though this time Chris was only able to secure us two pods rather than a cabin.
Although I realised it would be dependent on any subsequent booking, I suggested we ask Northdale if we could get the booking changed from Saturday to Saturday (as it wasn’t our fault we hadn’t been able to arrive on the appointed day). Fantastically, as a result, we were granted Monday to Monday instead of Saturday to Saturday.
All of this moved my sense of optimism further in the right direction. I had privately dreaded another windy, rainy and largely bird-free autumn week in Shetland, particularly as Chris and I would be paying twice as much for the accommodation. Equally, I knew if I didn’t go, my two prime target species, Siberian Rubythroat and Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler would be everywhere, whereas if I did…. .
But now, what with everything that had happened, there was a sense of things coming together, like it was meant to be?
And indeed, once there, it felt really good to be back; Unst had definitely worked its way into my soul.
As ever, birding on Unst proved to be hard work in trying conditions but overall, I was happy with life on ‘our’ very windswept island.
As ever, not a lot had changed really, though the Saxaford UK Space Port and its resultant changes to the roads going out to Skaw had moved on (not necessarily in a good way) and again, access to Lamba Ness was precluded.
Favoured sites such as Clingera, Halligarth and Houlland were much the same, although there had been some excellent habitat management at Valyie, which had opened up the woodland understorey, making viewing from inside the wood much more tenable.
Sadly, a notable change was that David Cooper wasn’t working the island all day every day, as he (and Brenda) were back ‘home’ in Sussex as his father was in a bad way.
None of this made any material difference to Chris, who just walked and walked every day. As a result, he also produced, finding a Marsh Warbler and Bluethroat near Holsen’s Bridge on consecutive days, Tuesday the 7th and Wednesday the 8th October. However, this wasn’t without cost. When yomping through the marsh between Holsen’s Bridge and the Norwick Beach bus-stop, Chris had partially fallen into the burn and, as a result, his bridge camera had packed up.
In addition, Chris was having big issues getting his mobile to charge, due, as it turned out, to a dodgy cable… .
Although, necessarily, Chris and I didn’t always bird together, we did so on other occasions, and as part of this, we routinely walked the minor roads around Haroldswick in conjunction. Whilst doing so earlier on the 8th October Chris had seen a Turtle Dove adjacent to, and on, the road near the garden and allotment at Rockfield I had always fancied. However, (partly as his camera wasn’t available) Chris hadn’t nailed the Turtle Dove, and as such hadn’t necessarily ruled out Oriental Turtle Dove.
Therefore, in conjunction with Scott (and Angela) Wotherspoon we’d searched the Haroldswick area; given the episode earlier in 2025 when a ‘Turtle Dove’ seen on Unst in the spring transformed into an Oriental Turtle Dove when it reappeared in South Mainland, we were keen to get better views. We failed, but later that afternoon, Chris and I returned to have another go.
As such, I dropped Chris off near Rockfield before going to park and walk around part of our 'Haroldswick circuit' in an attempt to relocate the Turtle Dove.
No sooner had I parked near the former Victoria’s Tea Rooms than I got a WhatsApp message from Chris saying, "Help needed Rockfield". I didn’t necessarily take in whether the message was specifically for me, or was on one of the WhatsApp groups, but I quickly drove back towards where I’d dropped Chris and instead parked near the junction of the minor road and the road alongside Haroldswick Bay.
I then walked back up to Chris who was still near Rockfield. As this was where the ‘Turtle Dove’ had been, this was what I was anticipated he needed help with.
As such, when I got there I was somewhat bamboozled when Chris started telling me about what he was confident was a Blackpoll Warbler..... .
I wasn't the only one bamboozled by Chris' attempts to get the news out. As suggested, as well as his trusty bridge camera having packed up, he was labouring with a malfunctioning mobile and as such, he had only had about 2% charge left.
Hence, commendably, he’d tried to get a message, any message, out as soon as possible.
However, this had the inadvertent effect of causing almost instantaneous WhatsApp message group fuelled pandemonium. For whatever reason, Chris’ message went ‘viral’ before he had intended and caused great confusion and consternation. I'll stop there out of diplomacy's sake (but why do people who aren't even there know better than people who are?).
Anyway, very quickly afterwards, people did arrive on-site, including Dougie Preston (from Yell, on a whim, out of his experience of such things in Shetland), the very interesting Wayne Glossop, and also Robbie Brookes, Mike Pennington and Brydon Thomason, who, very gently, managed the twitch a best as he was able.
Clearly, all efforts aimed at relocating the bird concentrated on the excellent cover available in the garden and allotment at Rockfield. Indeed, Brydon liaised with the owners of Rockfield who were very amenable given the rapidly growing crowd outside their house and even suggested they had seen the bird in the hydrangeas, etc., they could see immediately outside their kitchen windows.
However, suffice to say, after Chris’s initial sighting, despite the assembled twitch, the bird wasn't seen again on the 8th October.
This meant, that that night, all sorts of agonising and doubting ensued, as Chris tried to rationalise what he had seen. He had previous experience with Blackpoll Warbler, which was good, but when the bird appeared on the fence on the opposite side of the road to the Rockfield this certainly wasn’t what he expected to see when he raised his binoculars. Given where we were, frankly, he’d expected to see, another way more like warbler species with two wing-bars, namely Yellow-browed Warbler.
And, with hindsight, as his views had been so brief, he wasn’t necessarily convinced it was ‘just’ a Blackpoll Warbler. We discussed and researched other similar American wood warblers, notably Bay-breasted Warbler, but I cautioned Chris’ about writing down, ‘capturing’, just what had had seen and sticking with his instincts (rather than being swayed by what he subsequently read), noting that unless he did so, there was a chance that someone could turn up the next day and relocate the bird and ‘clinch’ its i.d., and then claim that it was his find.
Meanwhile, as Chris and I were agonising and doubting (and I was counselling 😂) it is fair to say birders elsewhere in Shetland were also agonising and doubting (and worse!). As we’d seen when Chris’ initial attempt to get the news out (somehow, anyhow) had immediately gone viral this had produced some very unhelpful responses (“Can we clarify what (the) hell he is talking about!” Adrian Kettle, which then got a thumbs up!) there were people out there who clearly knew better than the only person who mattered, the only person who’d seen the bird, Chris.
Chris coped commendably when with the pressure involved and remained his usual rational self.
Having firstly asked for the thoughts of others in relation to his drafts, that evening he sent a couple of messages to the Unst birders WhatsApp group, drafting, sending, receiving comments and amending the same all whilst still chatting to me.
Initially (in direct response to the Adrian Kettle message) he sent a message saying, “Sorry everyone. Phone died after sending initial message. That initial message seemed to do the job though! Thank you to those that came to look for the bird, and let’s hope it gets found tomorrow”, to which Brydon responded with a supportive message.
Subsequently he sent another message saying, “Hi all. Based on my views of the bird and my previous experience of the species, my initial thoughts were that it was a Blackpoll Warbler, but I knew I needed to see it again – so asked for extra help relocating given I had a phone about to die. In retrospect on the identification I don’t think I saw all characteristics to be able to safely rule out options for other American species. We’ll hopefully find it again tomorrow!”
So it was that we were up around 07:00 the following morning, and on-site at Rockfield soon after it was light. Others, including Wayne Glossop, quickly joined us.
Unfortunately, despite people looking (at Rockfield) and some people searching the wider area (Chris included!) there was no sign, so soon after 09:00 I opted to return to Northdale for breakfast.
Predictably, so it was, that, as I munched my Dorset Cereal and quaffed my coffee, that I received a message at 09:33 which involved Brydon forwarding a message from one of the main Shetland WhatsApp groups to the Unst birders one stating, “BLACKPOLL still”.
I opted to hastily finish my cereal and coffee (but just leave the bread in the toaster) before quickly driving back to Haroldswick.
On arrival it emerged that the bird had suddenly appeared when some young birders had used playback. It had seemingly flown into the garden at Rockfield from the rough field on the other side of the minor road, before returning there.
Some birders were in the field searching for it, and I briefly attempted to do the same, edging from the roadside ruined croft to the one further into the field. It quickly emerged that, without my walking pole anyway, I was no longer best-suited for this role, nor was I able to discern what the assembled birders at Rockfield were gesturing I should do (beyond being confident it wasn’t rude). I retreated back to the road, and soon afterwards it was apparent the bird had been relocated as there was more frenetic activity in the field.
I failed to get on it, even though it apparently perched on the roof of one of the buildings associated with the roadside house called Ark. However, despite the strong wind, and as though it had a routine, it seemingly made its was onto the beach and the huge mounds of wrack thrown up by Amy….. . or maybe beyond…. .Donald Wilson arranged for five of us to check out the croft North Booth beyond the end of Haroldswick Bay (he, I, Mike Penningto, Wayne Glossop and one other).
We were unsuccessful, but meanwhile it was indeed relocated on the beach. Again, here I initially struggled to get on it, as it was either flighty or got pushed or both, but eventually I did get on it, memorably searching for food amongst the wrack by perching up right on the tide-line, and then later, moving in the open on the track to North Booth.
Brief views, but more that good enough. I was happy.
After being a very small part of the first part of the story on the 8th, it was great to be around when everything came together for everyone present on the 9th.
And I was SO, SO pleased for Chris when the bird was eventually relocated, and, at times, performed very well for most in attendance, including even me. ☺️
I’d felt quite protective of Chris, being under siege like he was just for trying his very best, and so I was elated that he’d been vindicated. It was a strange sort of reflected glory, I guess.
Obviously, everyone else was very happy too, and there was a good atmosphere all round. I enjoyed seeing Paul Harvey, and introducing Chris to him, telling Paul, “This is Chris, who found the bird”. All the more so later, when we’d retreated to the Final Checkout for some lunch and again saw Paul there, who said to Chris as he was leaving, “Good find”.
So, thanks to Chris, I’d managed a long overdue tick, which was a good grip back, as perhaps nowadays it is no longer the most frequently occurring Yank as it had been in the 1970s and 1980s.
It was a stunning looking bird, way more so than perhaps I’d expected. Although an American wood warbler, there was definitely a hint of ‘bright’ pipit going on due to its general appearance and stance, and the prominent double wing-bars and (less prominent) streaking on both the upper and lower parts.
That said, the head, throat and upper breast were unmistakably yellow, and the rest of both the upper and lower parts also had a hint of yellow, although the upperparts were mainly grey-green and the underparts off-white. There was a darker eye stripe, and the head and face pattern involved somewhat darker areas on the crown, ear coverts and nape. There was some broad darker streaking on the lower neck, and the underparts, although this faded and thinned lower down.
The scapulars and the wing coverts had broad white edges, creating the double wing-bar effect, and the primaries, secondaries and tertials were white tipped and edged in part at least, although some primaries and secondaries were yellow edged. The flight feathers, wing coverts and alula were dark centred. The tail was similarly coloured.
However, the stand-out feature was the day-glo yellow-orange legs. If Pale-legged Leaf Warbler was my preceding tick, this one could justifiably be renamed Bright-legged American Wood Warbler!!
Blackpoll Warbler, Haroldswick, Unst, Shetland, October 2025 (photograph credited to Tom Hines).
